Next-Gen Maldocs & How to Solve the Human Vulnerability

Any cybersecurity attack — whether it be a breach, an incident or any form of compromise — starts with hackers getting in through the door. Threat actors and adversaries rely on gaining code execution on a target system which they can then leverage to do more damage—a phase commonly referred to a...

Ziggy Ransomware Gang Offers Refunds to Victims

The Ziggy ransomware gang announced in early February they were getting out of the cybercrime business. Now they say they’re ready to refund their victims’ money. Anyone who paid a ransom to Ziggy just needs to shoot them an email with proof of payment calculated in Bitcoin and the computer ID...

Fitbit Spyware Steals Personal Data via Watch Face

A wide-open app-building API would allow an attacker to build a malicious application that could access Fitbit user data, and send it to any server. Kev Breen, director of cyber threat research for Immersive Labs, created a proof-of-concept for just that scenario, after realizing that Fitbit...

CWT Travel Agency Faces $4.5M Ransom in Cyberattack, Report

CWT, a giant in the corporate travel agency world with a global clientele, may have faced payment of $4.5 million to unknown hackers in the wake of a ransomware attack. Independent malware hunter @JAMESWT tweeted on Thursday that a malware sample used against CWT formerly known as Carlson Wagonli...

Trend Micro Fixes Critical Flaws Under Attack

Trend Micro has released security updates patching five vulnerabilities in its endpoint security solutions, Apex One and OfficeScan XG for Windows. Specifically, Apex One 2019 and OfficeScan XG SP1 and XG are affected by four critical-severity and one high-severity flaws. Two of these...

Wormable, Unpatched Microsoft Bug Threatens Corporate LANs

UPDATE Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band patch to fix a SMBv3 wormable bug on Thursday that leaked earlier this week. The a patch for the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2020-0796, is now rolling out to Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 systems worldwide, according to Microsoft. On...

Understanding the Ripple Effect: Large Enterprise Data Breaches Threaten Everyone

Big businesses are constantly under attack, and that affects everyone from customers and business partners to parties with national security interests. When successful, the initial compromise is only a means to an end — the real goal is to mount follow-on attacks like spearphishing, extortion...

Smart TVs, Subscription Services Leak Data to Facebook, Google

Smart TVs and so-called “over the top” OTT platforms are the latest IoT devices found “spying” on users and leaking sensitive data to companies such as Facebook, Amazon, Google and Netflix, according to two separate studies conducted by university researchers as well as independent research done ...

Insider Threats Are Rising – But They Shouldn’t Be

There’s never been a shortage of risk that organizations face from insiders gone bad — those incidents where insiders steal information from their employers, clients, partners and government agencies. Many times, malicious insiders seek monetary gain. They’ll steal information such as account...

Backdoor Found in Utility for Linux, Unix Servers

In an unnerving twist, when a critical zero-day vulnerability was reported in a Unix administration tool, called Webmin, it was revealed the flaw was no accident. According to researchers, the vulnerability was a secret backdoor planted in the popular utility nearly a year before its discovery. T...

Black Hat 2019: Microsoft Protocol Flaw Leaves Azure Users Open to Attack

LAS VEGAS – A path-traversal vulnerability in Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol RDP leaves unpatched Azure customers open to attack. The flaw could allow for a virtual machine VM escape in Microsoft’s Hyper-V Manager, part of its Azure cloud platform. Researchers with Check Point at a Wednesday...

Former AWS Engineer Arrested as Capital One Admits Massive Data Breach

A massive breach of Capital One customer data has hit more than 100 million people in the U.S. and 6 million in Canada. Thanks to a cloud misconfiguration, a hacker was able to access to credit applications, Social Security numbers and bank account numbers in one of the biggest data breaches to...

Massive Malvertising Campaign Reaches 100M Ads, Manipulates Supply Chain

A Hong Kong-based advertiser has mounted a snowballing campaign, compromising more than 100 million ads to date by forming relationships with legitimate ad platforms to gain access to premium audiences. From there, it often pushes malware onto victim machines. The malvertiser, operating under the...

Critical Flaws in Khan Academy Opened Door to Account Takeovers

Two critical cross-site request forgery CSRF flaws in educational non-profit Khan Academy’s website may have affected some users by allowing account takeover. Khan Academy, a non-profit learning organization, produces short lessons in the form of videos that can be accessed online. The two critic...

Oracle Squashes 53 Critical Bugs in April Security Update

Oracle is urging customers to patch critical vulnerabilities in its products as part of its massive April update, which fixes a whopping 297 flaws. Of those flaws, 53 vulnerabilities in Oracle products had a CVSS score of 9.0 or higher, making them “critical” severity – and in fact, 49 of those...

Cisco Patches High-Severity Flaws in IP Phones

Cisco Systems is urging customers to update several models of their IP phones after issuing patches for five high-severity flaws found in its popular business-focused IP phones. Impacted are Cisco’s IP Phone 8800 series, which are business desk phones that have HD video included and its IP Phone...

Adobe Fixes Two Critical Acrobat and Reader Flaws

Adobe on Thursday released unscheduled security updates for Adobe Acrobat and Reader for Windows and MacOS. The updates fix two critical vulnerabilities, CVE-2018-16011 and CVE-2018-19725. Successful exploitation of the flaws could lead to arbitrary code execution in the context of the current...

Local-Privilege Escalation Flaw in Linux Kernel Allows Root Access

A local-privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel affects all current versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and CentOS, even in their default/minimal installations. It would allow an attacker to obtain full administrator privileges over the targeted system, and from there potentially...

Critical MySQL Vulnerabilities Can Lead to Server Compromise

Critical vulnerabilities in MySQL and vendor deployments by database servers MariaDB and PerconaDB have been identified that can lead to arbitrary code execution, root privilege escalation and server compromise. Dawid Golunski of Legal Hackers published details around two proof-of-concept exploit...

MFA Glitch Leads to 6K+ Coinbase Customers Getting Robbed

The accounts of at least 6,000 Coinbase customers were robbed of funds after attackers bypassed the cryptocurrency exchange’s multi-factor authentication MFA. According to a notification letter PDF – seen and posted by BleepingComputer, which first reported the story – that Coinbase sent to...

Microsoft Signed Malware That Spreads Through Gaming

Microsoft signed a driver being distributed within gaming environments that turned out to be a malicious network filter rootkit. G DATA malware analyst Karsten Hahn first noticed the rootkit, publicly posting the find on June 17 and simultaneously reaching out to Microsoft. Hahn noted that the co...

Accellion FTA Zero-Day Attacks Tied to Clop, FIN11

Researchers have identified a set of threat actors dubbed UNC2546 and UNC2582 with connections to the FIN11 and the Clop ransomware gang as the cybercriminal group behind the global zero-day attacks on users of the Accellion legacy File Transfer Appliance product. Click to Register Multiple...

Hezbollah-Linked Lebanese Cedar APT Infiltrates Hundreds of Servers

Advanced persistent threat APT group Lebanese Cedar has compromised at least 250 public-facing servers since early 2020, researchers said, with its latest malware. The group has added new features to its custom “Caterpillar” webshell and the “Explosive RAT” remote access trojan RAT, both of which...

Magecart Hits Parents and Students via Blue Bear Attack

Blue Bear Software, an administration and e-commerce platform for K-12 schools and other educational institutions, is warning its customers that it has suffered a Magecart attack. Blue Bear’s platform enables management of school accounting, student fees and online stores. In a letter to those...

WhatsApp Remote Code Execution Triggered by Videos

Facebook has quietly patched a vulnerability in the popular WhatsApp messaging platform, which could be exploited to launch remote-code-execution or denial-of-service attacks on victims. Attackers can exploit the flaw merely by sending a target user a video — specifically, a specially crafted MP4...

News Wrap: GandCrab Operators Resurface, Utilities Firms Hit By LookBack Malware

On this week’s news wrap podcast, Threatpost editors Tara Seals and Lindsey O’Donnell break down the top news, including: Despite claiming they were retiring, GandCrab’s authors have been linked to the REvil/Sodinokibi ransomware via a technical analysis. A spearphishing campaign, first spotted i...

Amazon Alexa, Google Home Are On a Collision Course With Regulation

Voice assistants are growing rapidly in popularity — but at the same time, the privacy concerns and security issues with popular home assistant devices like Amazon Echo and Google Home are peaking too. Earlier in July, Amazon came under fire after acknowledging that it retains the voice recording...

Amazon Admits Alexa Voice Recordings Saved Indefinitely

Amazon has acknowledged that it retains the voice recordings and transcripts of customers’ interactions with its Alexa voice assistant indefinitely. The admission raises questions about how long companies should be able to save highly-personal data collected from voice assistant devices. After U....

Apache Foundation Refutes Involvement in Equifax Breach

A group of developers behind Apache Struts, believed by some to be the culprit behind last week’s Equifax breach, took umbrage with those claims over the weekend. René Gielen, vice president of the Apache Struts Project Management Committee PMC at the Apache Software Foundation, wrote Saturday th...

Barracuda Networks Launches Bug Bounty Program

Following the lead of Mozilla and Google, Barracuda Networks is launching a bug bounty program that will pay out cash rewards for vulnerabilities found in the company’s own products. The move by Barracuda, a maker of mail security and data protection products, is the first such bug bounty program...

Microsoft warning to XP users: Update Flash Player Now

Microsoft has shipped a security advisory with an urgent message for Windows XP users: Update your Flash Player immediately. The Adobe Flash Player 6 that ships by default in Windows XP is vulnerable to multiple code execution vulnerabilities that could lead to PC takeover attacks, according to t...

New Flaw in Microsoft Office Web Components Under Attack

From SearchSecurity Robert Westervelt Microsoft issued an advisory Monday, warning of a new vulnerability in Office Web Components being actively targeted by attackers. The Office Web Components allow users to view spreadsheets, charts and databases on the Web. Microsoft said the vulnerability is...

Ransomware Attacks are on the Rise

After a recent dip, ransomware attacks are back on the rise. According to data released by NCC Group, the resurgence is being led by old ransomware-as-a-service RaaS groups. With data gathered by “actively monitoring the leak sites used by each ransomware group and scraping victim details as they...

SAP Kicks Log4Shell Vulnerability Out of 20 Apps

SAP has identified 32 apps that are affected by CVE-2021-44228 – the critical vulnerability in the Apache Log4j Java-based logging library that’s been under active attack since last week. As of yesterday, Patch Tuesday, the German software maker reported that it’s already patched 20 of those apps...

InkySquid State Actor Exploiting Known IE Bugs

The InkySquid advanced persistent threat APT group, which researchers have linked to the North Korean government, was caught launching watering hole attacks against a South Korean newspaper using known Internet Explorer vulnerabilities. New analysis from Volexity reported its team of researchers...

Sophisticated Android Ransomware Executes with the Home Button

A fresh variant of a sophisticated Android ransomware known as MalLocker locks up mobile devices – surfacing its ransom note when a user hits the Home button. According to research from Microsoft, MalLocker is spreading via malicious website downloads disguised as popular apps, cracked games or...

Spear-Phishing Attack Spoofs EE To Target Executives

Researchers warn of an ongoing spear-phishing attack mimicking a well-known telecommunications company, EE, to snatch up corporate executives’ credentials and payment details. Highly targeted emails have been sent to a few executives – including one at a leading financial firm – purporting to be...

Emerging MakeFrame Skimmer from Magecart Sets Sights on SMBs

Researchers have observed a new skimmer from the prolific Magecart Group that has been actively harvesting payment-card data from 19 different victim websites, mainly belonging to small- and medium-sized businesses SMBs, for several months. RiskIQ researchers first discovered the skimmer, dubbed...

Microsoft Patches 26 Critical Bugs in Big March Update

Microsoft tackled 115 bug fixes as part of its March Patch Tuesday update – 26 rated critical and 88 rated medium severity. The bugs patched span its product catalog, from Azure DevOps to Windows 10. This month’s haul is notable in its quantity and that there are only a few stand-out bugs causing...

Hacker Leaks More Than 500K Telnet Credentials for IoT Devices

A hacker has published a list of credentials for more than 515,000 servers, home routers and other Internet of Things IoT devices online on a popular hacking forum in what’s being touted as the biggest leak of Telnet passwords to date, according to a published report. The leak—revealed in a repor...

Elegant sLoad Carries Out Spying, Payload Delivery in BITS

A fresh analysis of the trojan sLoad sheds light on the growing trend of advanced malware “living off the land” of a targeted system and successfully evading detection and carrying out malicious activities. SLoad is a PowerShell downloader type of malware and is known for its impressive...

Twitter Uses Phone Numbers, Emails to Sell Ads

Twitter has acknowledged that user phone numbers and email addresses gathered for security purposes, as part of its two-factor authentication policy, may have been used to sell ads. It calls the move an accident. The revelation is being widely criticized for its obvious breach of user privacy,...

Microsoft Silent Update Torpedoes Windows Defender

A broken Microsoft Windows Defender signature file that was causing system file checks to fail got a patch this week – but the patch caused an even bigger issue, making Defender user-triggered antivirus scans fail altogether. The issue was in place for about a day before Microsoft re-patched the...

Cisco Accidentally Released Dirty CoW Exploit Code in Software

Cisco Systems revealed in a security bulletin Wednesday that it “inadvertently” shipped in-house exploit code that was used in security tests of scripts as part of its TelePresence Video Communication Server and Expressway Series software. The code exploits the Dirty Cow vulnerability...

ShadowBrokers' Windows Zero-Days Already Patched

Hours after what was thought to be a damaging release of NSA hacking tools for Windows systems, Microsoft quelled some anxiety with a late-night statement on Friday that most of the vulnerabilities disclosed by the ShadowBrokers had already been patched. The biggest surprise was that the most...

Microsoft Releases EMET 5.0 Exploit Mitigation Tool

The latest version of Microsoft’s freely available stopgap against zero-day exploits was released today with two new exploit mitigations and a batch of new configuration options. The update to Microsoft’s Enhanced Mitigation Experience Tool kit, or EMET, comes six months after a technical preview...

Microsoft Revokes Trust in 28 of Its Own Certificates

UPDATED–In the wake of the Flame malware attack, which involved the use of a fraudulent Microsoft digital certificate, the software giant has reviewed its certificates and found nearly 30 that aren’t as secure as the company would like and has revoked them. Microsoft also released its new updater...

Microsoft Pushes Out Two New Security Tools

In parallel with its release of 17 bulletins on Patch Tuesday this month, Microsoft also unveiled two new tools that are meant to help make a couple of common exploitation scenarios more difficult for attackers. The company released a tool called Office File Validation for some older versions of...

Attackers Pounce on Microsoft FTP in IIS Vulnerability

Less than a week after the publication of exploit code for a gaping hole in the FTP Service in Microsoft Internet Information Services IIS, attackers are launching what is described as “limited attacks” against Windows users. Microsoft has updated its security advisory to warn of the new attacks...

APT Lazarus Targets Engineers with macOS Malware

North Korean APT Lazarus is up to its old tricks with a cyberespionage campaign targeting engineers with a fake job posting that attempt to spread macOS malware. The malicious Mac executable used in the campaign targets both Apple and Intel chip-based systems. The campaign, identified by...